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Overheating

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kcbugeye1275

kcbugeye1275

Jedi Knight
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My friend and I have had a motor built for the SC Moss sells. The motor's performance is fantastic, but we do have an overheating issue that just won't go away. We both have 3.9 rear div.s and 5 speeds. My prob is 5th on the highway on grades and stopped traffic in the city when it is hot. Will an aluminum rad simply fix this prob. I went to a friend who builds big turbos and SCers for about anything you might bring into his shop(it is fun to go see his latest projects). He had a 64 vet with a SC small (lt1 I think) block bored to 388ci in his shop when I talked to him. The car had a shrouded elec. fan to a huge aluminum rad. No heating problems here. He thought my problem was one of air flow through the rad. There is not much room to put a larger rad. in the BE without a lot of mods. Has anyone thought of how to shroud the rad to a high performance elec fan. I have done many mods to my BE, but I don't want to make a misstep here. Obviously, I am asking anyone and everyone for any ideas or thoughts. Thanks
 
Overheating on hills could be too advanced timing.
I am running a junkyard Geo Metro rad with Geo electric fan and never had a problem (except when I blew a head gasket).
It's smaller than the stock rad, fits with minor mods, and I have a Speedwell nose with an opening the size of a pineapple.
 
""""" My prob is 5th on the highway on grades and stopped traffic in the city when it is hot"""""

""""""""He thought my problem was one of air flow through the rad. """""

and he's prolly right.

Actually at 60 mph you should have good airflow but "grades in 5th" indicate your in a little boost which produces more hp and therefore more heat. Thus insufficient CAPACITY. but now if you have a boost retard and the timing is retarding under boost that produces even more heat.

Traffic heat indicates insufficient airflow from the mechanical or an electric fan.

Assuming that you have no internal engine issues with head gasket seal , and using correct water flow paths thru the motor, then you prolly can use more radiator CAPACITY in a thicker core. (not much you can do about rad. AREA unless you want to change the tinwork around the rad so to put a wider rad in).

ALSO you might put a decent MECHANICAL fan on the motor ...something that will pull a good volume of air. More fan blade draft angle and more blades.....as well as a shroud that is properly constructed for the new fan. IF you choose to use an electric fan you should mount it PROPERLY and use a good one. A good one has a lot of beans and uses at least 10 amps.
 
I'm running a turbocharger with an aluminum Speedwell rad, up the Sierra to 6K feet in 5th gear at 70MPH, without overheating.
11 row oil cooler, Speedwell alum rad, NO fan blades on water pump, switchable electric fan on back of rad(suck-through) with NO shrouding at all. I live in Davis CA and drive the car in city traffic on 100deg days. I turn on the fan at 180 when in city traffic to stay ahead of the curve. Above 30MPH or so, shut it off.

At freeway speeds the waterpump fan is a big drag with little effect. Does most of its work at red lights, not needed with and electric fan.

Glen Byrns
 
After asking everybody I could think of, we have decided to go with the aluminum radiator. The motor is just making too much heat for the old radiator and the only solution seems to be a new radiator. I agree about the fan off the water pump being a drag, and haven't had one on my car for yrs. Also have the oil cooler. I just want to be able to say the same as you, "running it in the heat of the summer with no issues".
 
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